Possible new power plant for KITT
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:21 am
As the search function isn't working for me at all, I'd ask the admins to go easy on me if this has already been covered.
I've been thinking, as gasoline is starting to become somewhat of a rarety (even though KITT can use anything with hydrocarbons for fuel), I was thinking that in the new movie, maybe an update to his fuel source might be a thought. As KITT always had the latest technology, I thought possibly a small scale nuclear fusion reactor based engine might be an idea. Where I'm drawing this from is, as some people may or may not be aware, for over 20 years in Sandia Laboratories, a US Govt. controlled research facility in New Mexico research was being done to develop the world's first nuclear fusion reactor. In a nutshell a pellet of deuterium (an isotope of Hydrogen) is encased in a special 'oven' called a halraun (sp?) which is the size of a sugar cube and bombarded with x-rays, resulting in a form of nuclear power which is theoretically much less messy than nuclear fission. The big problem with it has always been having enough energy to kick start the reactor to the point where it's self sustaining.
I was following the progess of the project almost religiously in the late 1990's and shortly after 2000 they managed to get a prototype reactor to the point where it was self sustaining. That was the last I read before the project seemingly went off the radar, which to me seemed wierd. Anyway, getting back to either KITT or KITT jnr (for want of a better name), what if the reason it went off the radar is because FLAG aquired the technology and had been developing it as part of an entirely new engine system for either or both cars? Definately worth thinking about, and it's not like KITT didn't have weapons which were a little "out there" in KR2000. Not to mention that both cars could run almost indefinately before needing refueling. Also in the event of the reactor being spent, the same hydrocarbon fuel based systems could be in there as a backup .
I've been thinking, as gasoline is starting to become somewhat of a rarety (even though KITT can use anything with hydrocarbons for fuel), I was thinking that in the new movie, maybe an update to his fuel source might be a thought. As KITT always had the latest technology, I thought possibly a small scale nuclear fusion reactor based engine might be an idea. Where I'm drawing this from is, as some people may or may not be aware, for over 20 years in Sandia Laboratories, a US Govt. controlled research facility in New Mexico research was being done to develop the world's first nuclear fusion reactor. In a nutshell a pellet of deuterium (an isotope of Hydrogen) is encased in a special 'oven' called a halraun (sp?) which is the size of a sugar cube and bombarded with x-rays, resulting in a form of nuclear power which is theoretically much less messy than nuclear fission. The big problem with it has always been having enough energy to kick start the reactor to the point where it's self sustaining.
I was following the progess of the project almost religiously in the late 1990's and shortly after 2000 they managed to get a prototype reactor to the point where it was self sustaining. That was the last I read before the project seemingly went off the radar, which to me seemed wierd. Anyway, getting back to either KITT or KITT jnr (for want of a better name), what if the reason it went off the radar is because FLAG aquired the technology and had been developing it as part of an entirely new engine system for either or both cars? Definately worth thinking about, and it's not like KITT didn't have weapons which were a little "out there" in KR2000. Not to mention that both cars could run almost indefinately before needing refueling. Also in the event of the reactor being spent, the same hydrocarbon fuel based systems could be in there as a backup .